Merry Go Round 'n Round
by TreeStar
Summary: ZoLu. Luffy and Zoro have broken Nami's teacup. Each blames the other, starting a HUGE fight, and now they absolutely REFUSE to make up. But as the fight drags on, they start to miss each other. But to give in to emotion would mean to LOSE! As if!
1. Chapter 1

**Based on a One Piece doujinshi called "Much Ado About Nothing" by Royal Garden, in which Luffy and Zoro (who are already in a light romantic relationship that is about half recognized by themselves, but are not doing anything serious about it yet) get into a fight over something that doesn't even matter, and absolutely REFUSE to make up. **This doujinshi is one of my very favorites. That story is the skeleton for this never-ending-fight idea. Don't misunderstand, though. This telling is my own version, and VERY different. If the dialogue weren't way different, and the story itself not 70 percent bigger after my content adding, I wouldn't have changed the name. I've wanted to greatly expand on Much Ado About Nothing and turn it into a broader-story fanfic for a long time. I hope you like it.

**This will read differently depending on how to see it.** If you read it wanting it to be dramatic, it will be drama. Read it like a comedy (how i intended it) it will be funny. It should read like a cross between the two. I intended for the whole stupid fight to be blown so dramatically out of proportion by Zoro and Luffy that it's funny.

* * *

Merry Go Round 'n Round

**Part the First:**

_Round and Round and Round She Goes..._

Outside where half the crew was fishing, Usopp had a bite!

He tugged on his pole while heaving with all his might. "I've got one! It's probably a seaking!"

"Sure…" Sanji rolled his eyes, but smiled. At least Usopp's catch made it not quiet anymore. It had been irritably silent before, and Zoro wasn't around for him to fight with.

"Go Usopp!" Chopper cried in enthusiastic suspense.

"Don't lose it!" Vivi added, even though she remembered that the last time _Usopp_ had this much trouble with a fish, it had turned out to be a tadpole.

"Almost there!" Usopp declared again.

Inside the galley where he was drying the dishes next to the counter, Luffy heard the excited voices and again leaned over sideways to see if he could peek at them out the crack between the closed door. He couldn't go out until he finished, and he had a ways to go yet, but he had been complaining that he was bored and hot (they were almost to Arabasta) so Sanji had given him a job. And even though cleaning was work, Luffy had to agree that it was better than the weird silence outside. It was too hot to fish for him, and every time he'd tried to bring up a game, he'd been shushed.

He may not have been so hot had he not been wearing his long-sleeved teal hoodie instead of his red tank top, but he liked this hoodie. It had drawstrings! And his red shirt was torn. Nami hadn't fixed it for him yet… But he had on his red shorts, so it was okay. He could still wear red. These shorts didn't have the folds at the bottom that his blue ones did, so they were a little shorter, but they were also cooler and that made up for the warm hoodie. All the same, he'd complained too much in the end.

Sanji's instructions had been painfully simple: "Wash the dishes and play in the bubbles. Then you won't be bored, and you'll be inside where it's cooler and _out of everyone else's way!_"

Sound harsh? It probably would to anyone who doesn't have more background information.

Luffy understood why they were mad at him. _He'd_ eaten the last little bit of the food that morning (…oops), so the rest of them had to _catch_ something if _they _wanted to eat that day.

"Luffy."

Zoro's voice brought the captain back to his prison. "Huh?"

The swordsman sighed, finished drying his own wet cup, and pointed at the teacup in Luffy's hands. "I _just_ just _just_ finished telling you not to lean over with wet dishes in your hands, or you're gonna-"

"Woah!" Luffy said in surprise as he stood straight and the teacup slipped out of his hand and started falling to the ground.

Zoro's arm, which had been planning to wrap around Luffy's middle to pull him up and into a little squeeze before letting him go again, changed course and had moved in an instant to catch the cup.

You see, upon seeing that Luffy was basically about to be shut away from everyone else, Zoro's big mouth had said "It's not like he knew it was the last of the food. You don't have to alienate him", and he had been thrown in here as well when Nami had put him on 'make sure Luffy doesn't destroy anything while he's working' duty (even though, to be honest, Luffy didn't break his own ship during lazzzy days very often).

"There, now. Ya see?" Zoro said, taking the cup and not giving it back. "You've done enough. I'll finish this."

Luffy, who noticed that the voices outside had vanished and it was quiet again, became a little annoyed. He was upset because everyone was mad at him, and now even Zoro was saying he was incompetent!

"No, I can do it!" he grabbed the cup to take it back. Usopp's catch must have been another tadpole after all, which meant that no one would be ready to forgive him yet. This place was only a prison while there was something neat going on outside of it and his nakama were happy with him. If they were pissed and it was deathly quiet out there, he wanted to stay in here.

Zoro didn't let go. "Obviously not. You're job's done. Go back outside. You'll just get in the way in here."

Luffy's grip tightened. "Oh, now I'm in YOUR way too? Give me the damn cup, Zoro!"

"I didn't mean it like that! You're wet dishes are over there and I'd have to reach around you. That's why you'd be in the way." He pulled harder on the cup. Both wrapped their fingers inside the cup so they wouldn't lose their tightening grip. "And if you stay in here you're gonna break all the dishes and Nami will get mad at _me_ because _you're_ a butterfingers! Let go!"

"Now I'm BUTTERFINGERS? You're an iron fist! You can't be gentle with anything, so everything you hold shatters! You've broken more dishes than I have, _jerk!"_ On the last word, Luffy pulled the cup sharply toward himself.

"Well, you've SWALLOWED more dishes than I have, pig!" Zoro pulled back, just as harshly. What the hell was Luffy's problem? Sometimes he couldn't believe he followed this _little kid!_

Luffy was pissed. Every member of his crew had called him a greedy slob that day, but none of them had been as mean about it as Zoro was! "You're being such a prick! Let Go!"

"At least I'm not immature! You let GO!"

YANK. "I'm the captain of this ship!"

YANK. "You're acting like a two year old!"

"ASSHOLE!"

"BABY!"

_Swing! _The door opened and Nami stood there, her hair in pigtails and her glasses on clearly showing that she had come up from downstairs. She had a rolled up map in her hands. "Hey, Luffy! Sanji-kun caught a huge fish, so no one's mad at you anymore. And Vivi says there's a shipping isle right by Arabasta that we can stop and take a break at before heading on to the her country. We should also be arriving tomorrow morn-"

_chink! chink chink!_

Nami stopped short upon sizing up the two suddenly frozen pirates.

Zoro had one hand pushing on Luffy's head, and the other was holding the larger half of her favorite teacup from home.

Luffy had his foot planted in Zoro's middle, one hand wrapped around the wrist that was pushing on his head, and the other hand held the smaller half of her favorite teacup from home.

The half in Zoro's hand had been inadvertently crushed into three large pieces by his too-hard grip.

The half in Luffy's hand slipped out of it, fell to the floor and broke in two.

_chink!_

Zoro's expression said: _Urk!_

Luffy's expression said: um …oops.

Nami's expression said: **DOOM!**

"My cup…" She said forlornly, holding it's sad remains while Zoro and Luffy smoldered in lumps and bruises behind her.

Luffy started making excuses. "It's Zoro's fault! Be-because Zoro got in my way, and I couldn't finish cleani-"

Zoro cut him off. How dare this pipsqueak try to blame _him_! "What the hell do you know about cleaning? All you do is make messes!"

Luffy was livid. "At least I _try_ to help. At least I _do_ my chores."

"Are you saying I don't?" Zoro challenged.

"All you do is _sleep_!" Luffy countered.

Zoro stood to tower over the smaller pirate. "They'd be better off if you didn't help! Every time you try to clean, you break something. Like now! You _pulled_ too hard, moron!"

Luffy stood at his max height as well. He was a head smaller than Zoro, but he didn't care. "If YOU had just let GO, _this_ wouldn't have happened!"

"If I'd have let you have it, it'd be in even _more_ pieces right now!"

Luffy growled, "This happened because _you_ don't know enough about helping out around the ship to actually _do it _right!"

Zoro looked down and said too casually, "This _happened_ because you're an idiot."

"SHUT UP!" Nami's voice rang out as she easily threw them both out the door and onto the deck below with rage-induced strength.

Zoro hit the deck first, and instinctively moved to break Luffy's fall. In the split second before they collided, he realized what he was doing, but it was too late to take it back, and the captain crashed on top of him in a painful way.

"Get _off me_, dumbass!"

"As if I _wanted _to touch you, anyway!"

"Neither of you are eating dinner!" Nami screamed the ultimate punishment.

Luffy instantly became a broken man. Tears of denial poured from his eyes. "But NAMIIIII!"

"Che." Zoro interrupted his lament. "As if I want a fish that shitty cook caught, anyway."

Drawn by the screaming, Sanji came dancing around the corner in a flowery shirt and a pink apron, holding a watering can in one hand. Ignoring the idiots below, the cook poked his head around the corner of the galley door-- "Is something the matter, my lovely Nam-" --just in time to be hit head-on by a flying pair of mops and two buckets.

"Make yourselves useful and scrub the deck!" Nami's angry voice followed the flying projectiles.

Grabbing the materials that had been stopped by his face, Sanji turned angrily to hurl them all down at the feuding pair. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO NAMI-SAN! NEITHER OF YOU ARE EATING TONIGHT!"

And Luffy crumpled to his hands and knees in depression. And of course ZORO had to make everything worse!

"Fuck off, asshole!"

Sanji leered at him a moment. "I don't have time for you two idiots. Nami-swaaan" and he closed the galley door behind him.

Having mostly been hit by the missiled objects, Luffy grabbed a mop and a bucket and pointedly marched in a huff up to Foredeck. _And everyone was finally not mad at me anymore. Zoro always messes everything up! Jerk._

Glaring daggers after him, Zoro grabbed his own mop and bucket before loudly marching to Aft. _Of course he had to make sure that I got the larger deck to swab! _And he called Zoro lazy! What a toddler! _And I suppose it's my fault that he got his food taken away too. Not Nami's fault. Mine!_

The two stayed on opposite sides of the ship and didn't talk to each other for the rest of the day.

-------------

It got dark. It got cold. It had gone from hot to freezing, for some reason.

Luffy was still cleaning Starboard. His hoodie sleeves were soaked and the wind was keeping them like ice. Luffy shivered.

Zoro was still cleaning Port. His feet were wet in his shoes and it was really aggravating him.

Everyone else was finishing dinner. They'd hung a lantern outside so the two offenders could see. Nami had kept them both scrubbing all day. Neither had ever had to do chores at night!

…But if Luffy stopped, then Nami would tell Sanji no breakfast, and he would miss another meal.

…But if Zoro stopped, he'd owe Nami a fortune.

_This is all his fault_. They thought sourly about each other at the same time.

-------------

"Nami, how long are you going to keep them out there?" Usopp asked over his plate of fish.

Nami poked her ohashi at him. "You hush. I want to see if they'll make up tonight."

"What the hell are they even fighting about?" Sanji asked.

"Absolutely nothing important anymore. First it was 'who broke my cup', but then it just became petty insults."

Chopper sighed. "But can't be give them something small to eat…?"

Sanji shook his head and swallowed his mouthful. "I'd let them in, but I'm afraid they'd start throwing food."

"This is their punishment for acting like Neanderthals." Nami agreed with a shrug. "They'd better make up out there. It wasn't them, but their retarded _fight _that broke my cup! They're just stubborn."

Chopper looked sadly back at his plate. "I thought a captain and a first mate weren't supposed to fight."

Nami sighed, "You always hurt the ones you love."

"Huh? Why?" Chopper was confused.

"Hey Nami," Usopp suddenly said daringly. "A thousand Beli says Zoro caves first."

Sanji froze mid-chew. Vivi and Chopper dropped their chopsticks. Nami continued eating calmly.

"You're amazing, Usopp." Chopper said in awe, former confusion forgotten. No one on the ship had _ever _proposed bet against Nami.

Nami considered silently for a moment. On the one hand, Zoro was the more mature of the two. His feelings for Luffy were painfully obvious. And from what Nami had secretly observed, he was the more likely of the two to make the first move when it came to something involving their personal relationship.

On the other hand, Luffy had recently been very clingy. More so than normal. He usually did when it got cold out, and they'd had cold nights lately. She'd even seen him bring a blanket up to the Crow's Nest when Zoro had been on watch the other night when she'd been getting a midnight snack. He hadn't come back down.

A bet where there were no guarantees… They weren't Nami's favorite odds, but it was only a thousand Beli. Not even a full meal for this crew. This would be exciting whichever way it went.

"Deal. The first one to admit he was out of line will decide the winner of the bet."

Grins went around the table. Usopp nodded in agreement.

They didn't shake on it.

-------------

Luffy and Zoro kept shooting glances at each other when the other wasn't looking. It was because of this that both of them were more firmly believing that he was right and his companion was a stubborn baby/mean jerk.

Sure, Luffy had repeatedly dropped the mop a few times, but he'd seen Iron Fist over there picking splinters out of his hands, like _all day_.

Sure, Zoro had a couple splinters in his hands, but he'd seen Butterfingers over there drop the mop about _a hundred times_.

The door to the Galley swung open and the others trickled out.

"You two can go bed, now." Nami decreed on her way down to her room.

Both of them dropped their mops right were. Luffy rolled his shoulders. Zoro popped his back.

And the two followed the others down the hatch, never saying a word to each other.

-------------

Luffy lay awake in his hammock. It was the middle of the night, but he couldn't sleep.

He was really cold, and he'd forgotten his blankie…

He could move to get it!

…but he didn't know where it was…

But Zoro would! Zoro always knew where it--

No way. Zoro would just make fun of him because he needed help to find his blankie like a baby or something. So he would have to hunt for it and then he would make noise and if he accidentally woke someone else up they would get even more mad.

He shivered harder. His hoodie was still damp in the sleeves, but if he took it off he wouldn't have anything but his thin shorts. He wanted his warm blankie… but he was so tired of being yelled at today. Everyone was mad at him. …Even Zoro.

Not that Luffy _cared_ if Zoro was mad. It had been all _his_ fault anyway, so if Zoro wanted to be mad he could do it all by himself.

…Except that it was cold. And Zoro's hammock was always snuggly warm, and it was only about three feet away…

_Well, that's too bad_. Luffy decided. _He's trying to tempt me, but it won't work_. Zoro would love it too much if Luffy went over and snuggled with him. And then once he got there, Zoro would just yell at him some more. He wasn't going to walk into a trap like that! Oho no!

He was so cold…

…_Stupid Zoro. _

--------------

In his hammock, Zoro couldn't sleep. How annoying, considering he hadn't been able to nap even _once_ that day thanks to _someone's_ immaturity.

He was hungry. He could go get food, but there were stupid traps set all around the galley that he didn't want to deal with.

Shifting a little to get more comfortable and pulling his warm blanket around himself, Zoro's eyes fell on Luffy's form all curled up into a ball a few feet away.

This caught Zoro's attention. Luffy slept splayed all over when he was comfortable, but he was curled in a ball now, so something was wrong. It didn't take a genius to figure out what.

He could see that smaller boy was shivering even in the dark. His breathing was shaky, too. _Forgot his blanket again. _Luffy did this sometimes.

Zoro watched his captain for a few more moments. If Luffy was awake and being cold on purpose, then it was because he didn't know where his blanket was. Zoro knew. He slept in the hammock right next to the kid, and when Luffy had kicked the thing off the night before, it had landed underneath him. It almost always did, but Luffy hadn't seemed to realize.

Now as he watched and heard the boy shudder and shiver an arm's length away from him, the temptation rose to reach over and tuck the boy in all warm, and kiss his forehead as he had so many times before.

Then his stomach growled, and the urge died. It occurred to him that Luffy might have done this on purpose just to get Zoro to go over there and hold him.

Why should Zoro do anything for Luffy? He didn't feel like being snapped at for trying to help again, thank you very much. _After all, I don't have a clue what I'm doing… I have no idea how to help out around the ship. _His frown became sarcastic. _Just because I've got a nice warm blanket and he doesn't, what do I know?_

Besides, if the kid was too immature to get his own blanket then it just proved Zoro was right. If he wasn't willing to get over himself enough to come over and climb into Zoro's hammock if he couldn't find his blanket, then that was his problem.

_Let him freeze. …I don't care._

--------------

After a long night, morning came. Sanji got up and made breakfast: the rest of the fish from last night. It had been a BIG fish.

When it was served, most of the crew was up and ready, but Sanji still set a couple helpings aside.

"I see that Luffy-san and Mr. Bushido aren't here." Vivi observed as she ate. "Did they make up last night?"

Usopp rolled his eyes. "Let's just say the bet's still on."

Nami was surprised. "You gotta be kidding me. Neither of them made a move? All night?"

Usopp nodded gravely. "When he went to bed, Luffy's blanket was under Zoro's hammock like it usually is. When I woke up, they were both asleep in their own hammocks, and Luffy still wasn't covered."

Nami let out a low whistle.

Sanji flung a towel over the fish to trap the heat. He was still pissed at both of them for breaking his precious Nami-san's cup in the first place. "What the hell is his problem? It's not like he's acting any more mature about this than Luffy is."

Nami pouted a little. "I sort of hope he keeps being this way." She got a wild expression with Beli eyes. "Then Luffy has to make the first move and I'll make money off him."

Chopper look scared. Nami was disturbing sometimes. Usopp looked just as disappointed that Zoro hadn't made a move as Nami looked excited about it. The little reindeer, however, didn't care who did what as long as they made up soon!

--------------

They had all finished their breakfast and were either running or sauntering out of the galley when a refreshed looking Luffy came in, shortly followed by an irritable looking Zoro. The pair were left to the galley with only Sanji remaining for company.

Neither had fallen asleep until nearly dawn, and hadn't realized how late they'd slept. When Zoro had risen and noted that the others were gone, he'd dressed and 'accidentally' shaken Luffy's hammock on his way to the ladder to wake the kid up. Luffy still beat him to the kitchen.

They'd only gotten a couple hours sleep apiece, and while Zoro hardly felt ready to be awake yet, Luffy felt revitalized because he was Luffy and he could do that.

It pissed Zoro off.

Now they sat at the table and Sanji got their plates ready. Neither dish was very full.

Usopp came rushing back in as the two ate. "Hey! I can see the shipping port from here! There's a town we'll be able to shop at, too. Open market! Looks to be a pretty good size!"

"That's great news! I'll make up some shopping lists so everyone'll be responsible for getting things. We don't have money to waste right now, but we need food." Sanji turned a glare on Luffy. "Badly."

Luffy's head dropped in guilt. Why was everyone still mad at him? There'd only been two bites in the storage room yesterday! So he'd had to assume that there would be another stock in the kitchen. It had made sense…

He ate his last bite… and then realized that he'd eaten his last bite. Shoot. He looked at Zoro's plate with purpose.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. He put his hand up to guard, knowing what was Luffy was about t-

Proving once again that the hand was quicker than the eye, Luffy had a piece of Zoro's fish in his mouth in a blink.

Zoro squeezed his own fork until it bent in his fury. His face was red, but he restrained himself from strangling the kid right there.

"Sanji, seconds!" Luffy cheered innocently.

"No way, buster. You broke Nami-san's teacup yesterday, remember? You're lucky she's letting you have breakfast at all. Besides, that's all that's left."

Luffy's head dropped to the table in lamentation. This was it. His life was over! …Unless…

Luffy looked at Zoro's plate sorrowfully. Then at Zoro hopefully. Then at Zoro's plate. Then at Zoro.

Zoro didn't know what the hell he expected. He'd broken Nami's cup because he wouldn't just let go of it, and then he'd try to blame Zoro for it, calling him a prick! Real mature! Zoro hadn't forgotten anything else that Luffy had said the day before, either. Not that it mattered all that much because his captain was such a kid.

But Luffy had already snuck some of Zoro's breakfast, and he'd gotten to eat something the day before as well.

Zoro tilted his plate so that Luffy couldn't see what was on it and shoved the last bites into his mouth at once. He smiled and patted his belly when he was done. "Mmm. Good stuff."

SLAM. Luffy's came down hard on the table. "Zoro! You wouldn't even share with me! YOU'RE SUCH A JERK!"

Zoro shrugged casually, as if he didn't care how much Luffy shouted. "Grow up."

Luffy's face turned red. He felt quite possibly that he had never been so mad at anyone in his entire life. "ASSHOLE!" he shouted before running out of the kitchen. Zoro was so mean!

Zoro rose and followed him out the door. Frankly he was kind of getting tired of Luffy's attitude. Why the hell did Luffy have to keep dragging this out? All he had to do was admit that _he_, not Zoro, had broken the cup! How hard was that?

* * *

AN: well, it's different than my other stories in this section... For starters, it moves much faster, and switches back and forth between the two characters in the true style of a straight-up comedy-romance. It's also simple content-wise. There's a fight. That's it. But a fight that is pointless to everyone whose only watching can be such a huge deal to those who are actually involved in it. especially if they are boarder-line romantically involved together. :) 

This story will be presented in 3 parts. Much like any fight, it has a beginning, a middle, and an end.


	2. Chapter 2

The monetary system of One Piece is run on Beli. From what I've come to understand, the Beli value is closely related to the Japanese Yen system. To help those of you who may not be aware understand, 106 yen about 1.00 American dollar. Basically you just take the decimal point and move it in twospaces.so 1,000 Yen is about 10.00 dollars. (the restrictions on the site won't let me post dollar signs...).

The description of Beli in Skypeia gave me the impression they were like yen, but not quite. For example, Nami remarks thatthey have 50,000 Beli, enough to support and feed the seven of them -with five growing boys- for only two or three days, and Luffy demands to know why they are so poor. Trying to travel seven people across the Grand Line with a round-about equivalent of 500 dollars in the pocket is really scraping the bottom, so his comment isn't unfounded.

And I'm painfully aware of how lame and cliche my chapter titles are...

**

* * *

**

**Merry Go Round 'n Round**

Part the Second:

_Where she stops…_

Two hours later they were docked and Zoro, Luffy and Usopp were getting off to stand on the Warf.

Luffy started racing around by the ship, laughing loudly and trying to take in everything at once.

"This is nice!" Usopp smiled, raising his hand to block the sun as he looked into the city. "I'll be able to spend the money Sanji gave me on plenty of materials here! Haha!"

"Oi, Zoro!"

Zoro turned to see Sanji jogging up with a couple bits of paper. He handed one to Zoro.

"What's this?" Zoro asked.

Sanji pointed at the paper and then indicated toward the market. "You're list. We're gonna go in pairs to get the shopping done."

Luffy came back over upon noticing that Sanji had confetti or something.

Zoro frowned. "Shopping list? What a bother…"

"You've only got like ten things! Use the money that Nami-san had me hand out earlier."

"You didn't hand me money earlie-"

"Usopp!" Sanji suddenly called after the sniper, who seemed to be trying to sneak away.

"I know!" Usopp cried, bolting. "Don't spend too much money!"

Sanji reached out quick as a flash and dragged him in by the big brown weapon-and-invention-filled bag he wore over his shoulder. "You're coming with me. You can help carry stuff."

He turned back toward Zoro as Usopp struggled to free his nose from Sanji's grip. "You and Luffy can get that stuff. Try not to get lost."

Luffy started upon hearing this. He pulled a wad of bills out of his pocket and separated them into two smaller wads. Reaching out into Zoro's still open palm, Luffy grabbed the list, tore it in half down the middle, tossed one half back at Zoro with one wad of bills and crumpled the other half into his own fist. He turned and started up the Warf toward the city.

Sanji stopped struggling with Usopp. "Luffy?"

Luffy turned and pulled the corners of his mouth apart in a face. "I'm going by my_self_! Zoro can't come!"

He turned back around and kept marching, shouting over his shoulder, "I wouldn't want to get in his WAY!" Then he disappeared into the melee alone.

Usopp and Sanji let go of each other.

Usopp crossed his arms and frowned at Zoro.

Sanji lit a cigarette. "What's the problem, Marimo? Have trouble rising to the occasion in bed last night?"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Zoro growled, causing Usopp to grab Sanji's hand and say "Come on, Sanji, let's shop 'til we drop!"

Sanji followed with a laugh in Zoro's general direction and a mumbled, "Touchy subject, huh?"

And Zoro turned toward the crowd heading in the opposite direction that Luffy had. Now, thanks to Luffy, he was the butt of Sanji's jokes.

"That little bastard." he grumbled.

"Valued customer!" Some vendor shouted. "Come take advantage of our bargains! Today only! Three for the price of one!"

Zoro turned to look at the vendor. He was a short, portly man with his hair combed to look like bulls horns. He also had a small spotted elephant behind the table with him.

The whole set up was bizarre as far as Zoro was concerned, but he was selling pears and cantaloupes, which had the bad fortune of being on Zoro's half of the shopping list.

Then again, it _was_ a good deal. And if Luffy had needed to shop at this stand, he'd try to buy the elephant instead of the pears.

Approaching the stand, Zoro placed his order. This would be the easiest one he placed that day.

The other vendors all had their products outrageously marked, and had required quite a bit of dickering with to get the prices reasonable.

Zoro was in an irritable mood thanks to Luffy, however, and didn't feel the least bit guilty about making sure his saya clinked together a little more than normal when a vendor became unreasonable. After all, he wasn't threatening anyone. He wasn't so petty as to threaten vendors in a market square. He was just making it a little clearer than normal that he knew how to use swords.

Three of them.

An hour later, Zoro was strolling through the city, carrying one massive bag of materials slung over one shoulder, and another huge bag hanging off his other forearm. It was amazing how the shopping list of 'ten things' could be ripped in half, and Zoro's half could afterward manage to be sixty items long.

Idly, he wondered how Luffy was managing… Not that it mattered. He was done here, so he walked up to a navigation post sticking out of the middle of the circle he was in.

On it, several arrows were pointing in different directions. All of them were written in English.

Zoro's English sucked. Still, knowing that 'Warf' or 'dock' or whatever would only be one word long, Zoro was able to narrow it down to two arrows pointing in opposite directions.

"Let's see… the boat would be… This way." Zoro turned in the direction of the arrow that read 'BRIDGE', and started to walk away from the 'HARBOR'.

Ten minutes of straight walking later, Zoro was idly surprised as he crossed a crowded bridge he had never seen before. He hadn't realized that he'd meandered so far into town that it was taking him so long to get back. How 'bout that? This meant he must have been through the whole market and found the best deals around! After all, he had a lot of money left over.

Then Zoro had a thought. The materials on his half of the list had all been cheap produce and crap. Easy deals, but he'd had half of the money to make them with. It was too much.

Nami wasn't big on giving out more money than was absolutely needed. So if Zoro had all this left over cash, then it meant that it was probably supposed to be spent on some more expensive things on the other half of the list.

…Which made him again wonder how Luffy was doing…

"-on't know how, he just fell off the bridge into the down-current!"

"He's going to drown if no one goes after him!"

"Don't look at me! It's amazing he didn't break his neck in the fall, but that current could drown an alligator! _Does anyone here have a canal boat?"_

Zoro spun sharply. _No way…_

Zoro approached the side of the bridge and glanced over to see the dark head of hair and a red shirt sinking beneath the surface fast.

"Luffy!"

He dropped his bags right there, causing their contents to scatter about the bridge. "Hold on, Luffy," he said almost to himself as he hefted himself up onto the rail. "I'm coming right now."

With that he dived in. It was a long fall, but Zoro wasn't even thinking about it.

How long had Luffy been in the water already? It couldn't have been too long, because he'd still been near the top when Zoro had seen him! But then those men had said something about a current… they'd sounded like they'd already been talking about it for a time before Zoro had overheard them.

It only took him a couple seconds to find the sinking figure and bring him back up to the surface. --where he was met with a surprise. He wasn't quite relieved, but he wasn't exactly disappointed, either.

This wasn't Luffy. It was a little boy who really LOOKED like Luffy. Seriously, it could have been his twin. …If Luffy were about six. That was when Zoro remembered: Luffy wasn't wearing his red shirt. He was still in that teal hoodie with the red shorts…

Zoro held the swirly-eyed little boy and patted his cheek. "Oi. Oi, wake up."

He regretted it a moment later, though, as the first thing that the child did upon rousing was burst into loud sobs and try to choke Zoro to death.

"Hey, let go! Take it easy! Oi!"

This continued until a canal boat came out two minutes later. Zoro put the boy in the boat and climbed in himself only to get mobbed again by the kid.

The boy wrapped his arms around Zoro's neck and hugged him, crying about how everyone was going to be mad at him and how sorry was and that he hadn't meant to get in the way or be an inconvenience or something like that. He was crying so hard it was difficult to make out his words.

The amazing thing to Zoro was that, even though he was a total stranger in town, the boy seemed to have taken to him in a heartbeat as someone he could depend on to protect him.

_Just like Luffy…_

--------------

A moment that passed five minutes later found Zoro ringing out his shirt on top of the bridge.

He was soaked, but one of the kind people lingering around had leant him a towel with which to dry off a least a little. He was pleasantly surprised to see that his shopping bags were refilled and set aside neatly, and that nothing was missing. In fact, an additional crate of _eight_ fresh-out-of-the-tank lobsters had been set next to his stuff.

Zoro had always considered open markets to be a game trail for thieves. He still did, actually. He had the feeling that the only reason he hadn't been robbed blind was because he'd been 'on a mission of good will'.

The little boy was getting dried off nearby by his very grateful mother. "Thank you so much! Really, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't saved him. Honto ni arigatou gozaimasu!"

Zoro was taken aback a little at all the praise. "Oh, no. It's no big deal. Really…" He felt kinda guilty because he hadn't actually intended to play hero for some random kid when he'd jumped in the water. He'd just done what came naturally after being with Luffy for so long.

Said random kid looked up at him from where he sat barefoot on the cobblestone with a towel over his head. "Thank you for saving me, mister."

Zoro nodded. "Not a problem."

He was turning to go when the boy's mother nodded encouragingly at her son, as if to remind him of something.

Suddenly realizing what it was, the little boy ran in front of Zoro and bowed deeply. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I fell in and that I cried so much. I got scared that everyone would be mad when we were in the boat. I'm sorry."

…And Zoro had to smile. He really was reminded too much of a mini-Luffy.

Zoro squatted and put his hand on the boy's head. "Accepted. It's okay that you were scared, but you know, sometimes when people get mad, it's just because they're worried. It just means they care."

The little boy smiled at him. Zoro gave his head a last ruffle. "Try not to fall in again, okay? That's a long drop!"

The little boy laughed and gave Zoro an oddly familiar sunny smile. "Kay!" he chirped.

Zoro nodded, picked up his stuff, and began to walk off farther inland.

He got all of four steps before loud cheering erupted and a bunch of locals started praising him and inviting him to dinner. Some of the younger women tried to come on to him, and all the nearby vendors were loading up free samples of food to give him. Apparently he had become the town hero for a day.

How bothersome. They were trying to stay undercover and not gain lots of attention, for crying out loud. Baroque Works would cause them a lot of trouble if they were noticed.

Zoro accepted most of the food because it was piled on top of him against his will, but pretty soon enough was enough, and Zoro made his way through the crowd with many 'thank you's, and finally headed off in the opposite direction he'd came: toward the harbor this time.

As he walked, he realized that he didn't even know that little boy's name. But then, it didn't really matter. All Zoro had to know was of who the boy had reminded him of.

It dawned on Zoro that he had wondered how Luffy was doing more than once that morning.

_--"I'll go by myself! Zoro can't come, I wouldn't want to get in his WAY!"--_

The captain knew how to attract trouble, and had no idea how to actually shop for all those items assigned to him. The only reason he'd taken half the list was because he was trying to prove a point. But he knew that the others would be pissed if he came back empty-handed.

Zoro now understood that Luffy didn't want anyone to be mad at him anymore. He'd seen his captain's face fall when Sanji had snapped at him that morning. So he would struggle and possibly get into who knew what kind of trouble on his own just so that the others might not be so mad at him anymore.

Remembering that there was one more thing he had to get, Zoro changed course for the indoor shops he could see down that street over there.

As he beelined for it, another thought had occurred to him. One that made him suddenly really hate this town.

So it hadn't been Luffy drowning in the water. It could have been.

It could have been, easy.

And Zoro could just as easily have been no where nearby when he'd fallen in.

If that had been the case, he'd have drowned.

No one else was gonna jump in the water to save that kid. They'd proved it by acting so amazed when Zoro actually _had_.

And that kid had been a small child. A little local boy whom they all knew. None of them were going to stick their neck out for him.

So Zoro knew that if a stranger had fallen in the water, they wouldn't have given him a second glance. Wouldn't even have said anything to draw Zoro's attention to him.

So it hadn't been Luffy drowning in the water. …It could have been.

* * *

Luffy's face was plastered to the bakery window. 

There were meat buns on the other side of the glass!

"Looks soooo gooood!" Luffy stared ravenously, to the nervous discomfort of the bakers in the store.

Almost an hour ago Luffy had marched into the fray leaving the others on the dock behind him, and immediately forgotten what he was supposed to be doing.

There was just so much to see! Like all the food!

Luffy pulled himself off the bakery glass to move on to the next new thing. He'd reached the end of the restaurant street and entered a square of food stands. Sales guys were shouting and banging sticks on the tables to get people to come over and buy from them.

This reminded Luffy of his job, and he reached into the pocket of his red shorts to pull out that shopping list. And stopped short.

Hadn't Sanji said there were only about ten things on the list? And that was when it was whole!

Well, this was NOT ten things. This was more like FOUR MILLION things.

Luffy had thought this would be easy, he could handle getting a couple things at an open market. But now…

Fact was, Luffy preferred shops to markets when he had actually shop for himself. Markets were interesting and bustling, but they were also confusing and distracting and left him feeling like he'd have to destroy a few stands and take what he needed afterward in order to get anything accomplished. As a result, very little shopping ever got done when Luffy went by himself.

But even though it was Zoro's fault, Luffy'd volunteered to do this alone, so he had to try. He read down the list to see if anything in the nearby stands was on it.

Aha! Mushrooms! …Mushrooms? Sanji wanted him to buy mushrooms? Usopp didn't even eat mushrooms! Why were they buying them?

Perplexed but deciding not to think about it, Luffy walked over to a people-hungry looking vendor and said, "How much are your mushrooms?" He looked at the list again. "And your peapods?"

"Well," the greasy man started, "How much are you willing to pay?"

That was a weird question. "How much to they cost?" Luffy said again.

Now the vendor smiled. Luffy didn't like his look. Everything about this man told Luffy to leave. But he had to get this shopping done…

"How does eight hundred Beli a bag sound to you?" The vendor asked.

"Okay!" Luffy didn't actually know how much mushrooms and peapods cost normally.

"Honey!" A kindly old woman who had been watching him from the next door booth came over and took his hand, guiding him aside.

"Hey!" the vendor growled at the woman, "We're going business here."

"I only want to talk to the lad a moment, Stan!" the woman scolded gently, "And you shouldn't be taking advantage of young people like him like that!"

She turned back to Luffy, who was really confused. "Honey," she said again. "You can't let people like him swindle you."

"WHAT! He was trying to swindle me?" Luffy looked at the man in anger, puffing steam out of his nose. The man just looked annoyed that he'd missed his catch of the day. Luffy didn't know what a swindle was, but the lady said it like it was something bad.

The woman laughed. "In an open market, everyone will try to get you to pay more for things than they're worth. You have to expect it."

Luffy nodded and sighed. "So what do I do?" he asked, already not liking how difficult this was becoming. At least this old lady seemed nice. He liked her.

The old woman smiled gently. "You have to dicker. When a vendor asks how much you are willing to pay, you set a price that's a bit below market value. Then he'll say it's too low and try to get you to go up in price. Then you start dickering to settle on a price somewhere in the middle."

Luffy frowned. He understood why everyone around him was arguing about money now. But he still wasn't sure how he was going to do it.

When he'd gone shopping with Zoro on previous occasions they'd never had this problem because people usually saw Zoro's swords and let them do whatever they wanted.

But Zoro was being a jerk. He'd even trying to starve Luffy into surrendering, which was the lowest battle strategy in existence, as far as the captain was concerned. It was cruel and unusual punishment!

"You okay, Honey?" The woman asked. She was so nice. Luffy wished he could give her a better answer. So he forced a smile and didn't answer at all.

The woman took his grin the same way most people did: at surface value. "Okay. I have to go meet my granddaughter, but you'll be fine on your own. Just remember: the point of an open market is to come out with more than you entered with. Bargain, bargain!"

She gave his hand one last squeeze, and turned to admonish the vendor with a quick "Stan, you give this young man his veggies for free!" before disappearing into the swarm.

Luffy looked after her for a moment. He really had liked her. She hadn't gotten impatient with him once.

When he turned back, Stan was glaring at him. But that was fine because Luffy didn't want to do business with a robber anyway! Luffy was the pirate here, not the other way around!

When Luffy turned away, Stan grunted and turned to slime up some new customers approaching the stand.

Luffy picked up his list and moved on to the next item: Lobsters.

What the hell? They were about to dock and enter Arabasta! Did Sanji want them to hike around with live lobsters strapped to their backs? (He'd conveniently forgotten that lobsters died outside of water.)

Luffy walked up the street for a few minutes until he saw tanks of live lobsters. Smiling, he approached the stand to try his hand at dickering.

He hadn't understood a word the woman had been saying about Market Value or Price Setting or anything else so foreign, but he did understand what it meant to cut off the ends of a straw on both sides until all you were left with was the fun bendy part in the middle!

"Howdy!" the lobster man said cheerfully. "What can I do ya for?"

Luffy grinned back. He'd never heard a sailor with an accent like that before… but this man's eyes crinkled at the corners with smile lines, which meant he smiled a lot and that probably meant that he was a nice person.

"I need to get seven lobsters!"

"Okay, young man! Mah askin' price is 1800 Beli apiece for the big 'uns."

_1800! Times seven that's… a whole lot! _Well, that grandma had said these guys would try to milk his money from him. Now Luffy had to 'dicker'. He'd do his best.

"That's too much. I'll pay twenty Beli apiece."

The man laughed. "Okay, I get it. I can come down some. What do you say to 1600 apiece?"

"100."

…

Was this kid serious? Starting at 100? For lobster? He thought the kid had been joking. The vendor had just gone down two thousand. Luffy had only come up eighty. "Listen, kid, when two people try to make a deal, they both have to give a near amount. So when I go down 2000, you come up somewhere around as much." Not that he'd be able to make a deal meeting in the middle from Luffy's starting point…

Luffy pouted. Now this guy was trying to tell him how to dicker? But he was one of the bad guys! And why was everyone treating him like he was an incompetent little kid!

Okay, maybe not everyone. Just Zoro. But Zoro _was_ everybody to Luffy! Shame he was such a total asshole.

Someone cleared his throat. Luffy looked up sharply. What did _this bozo _want?

"Have ya reached a new price for the lobsters, kid?"

Oh Yeah! He was supposed to be lobster-dickering! Zoro had distracted him, the jerk!

He shook his head to clear it. "So if I go up another 2000 Beli…" he tried counting on his fingers and came up with some asinine number. "But that's a lot of money!" At this rate he wouldn't be able to buy much more than half of the things on his list.

The vendor was becoming impatient. This kid had his head in the clouds or something. "Well, lobsters are a rare commodity in these here parts!"

If he'd been floating, this comment brought Luffy to earth real fast. A rare commodity? They were on a Warf! Even Luffy wasn't that foolish.

He pointed over his shoulder, "But there's another guy selling the same lobsters right over there by the bridge!" He was really getting sick of this guy…

Apparently the feeling was mutual. "Then go buy from him."

…Well, that was rude! And Luffy'd been ready to tell him so, when a pair of girls walked past the booth. "Did you see those muscles under that wet shirt? What a babe!"

Then the lobster man suddenly looked like he was in the clouds, spinning in circles with bubbly hearts encircling him. "Hello, beautiful ladies!"

The girls looked at the man like he was a pervert (surprise!), and kept walking.

The man dissolved out of view behind a tank.

Suddenly incredibly bored, Luffy headed over toward the bridge. He supposed he'd have to go to the other vendor now. How annoying. This shopping thing was really lame. And hard!

He didn't belong here. He didn't like it at all.

He approached the edge of the crowded bridge, not noticing that people were running about excitedly like a major event was happening, and climbed up to sit on the stone railing, feet dangling over the side.

Wow! The bottom was a long way down. It would be so neat if he could show someone… but as it was, it was just a bridge. Just another boring bridge.

Luffy didn't feel very well.

…_This would be a lot more fun if Zoro were here._

Shaking his head to get rid of _that_ ridiculous thought, Luffy tried to think of something good.

Suddenly someone bumped him from behind and Luffy lost his teetering balance, falling from the rail toward the water below.

People started screaming and shouting above.

Startled, Luffy reached up to grab the railing. Because the fall was long, Luffy had plenty of time to do so, and he slingshot back up to the bridge again.

Everyone was freaked out about seeing him stretch for the first time, something Luffy was used to by now. But the comments this time were a little different than normal questions.

"Another one!" some people were saying, along with, "Seen the weirdest things on this bridge today," and "Thought we'd have a double feature there for a second! But the hero's long gone now. But hey! We got to see a devil fruit in action!"

Luffy didn't have a clue what they were talking about, and he really didn't care. That had been a close call, but only because if he HAD actually hit the water, he wouldn't have had anyone around to help him. He couldn't expect help from strangers here again. Save for that old woman, everyone was out for themselves in the open market. Thank goodness the water had been so far below him!

The bridge wasn't a fun place to be anymore, and Luffy shoved his way through the fawning crowd, escaping into a side-street.

--Where he was met with a sight that made him forget all others!

There were streamers hung all over, ice-cream stands were singing tunes, a whole stand of Panda Man action figures, balloons, lots of children, a carousel, and where those REAL flamingoes standing in front of that candy shop?

It was like a circus outside of a tent! So much to see!

He had no idea what was going on, but it didn't matter! It was incredible! Was this normal? If so, Arabasta would probably be the most exciting place on earth!

Then Luffy's eyes fell on the most amazing thing ever! A spotted baby elephant!

He'd only ever seen pictures in books of the creatures with noses longer than Usopp's! It was so big, and it was just a baby! And here was one right in front of him-- well, in in front of him and down the street a little ways.

Luffy jumped up and down, pointing excitedly, "Look, Zoro! Look at the spotted elephant! I've always wanted to see one!" …Even though he hadn't even known they came spotted until just now.

"Zoro! Zoro can we-" Luffy spun around excitedly to where his first mate was… not standing.

And then he became very still. His smile faded. The excitement faded from his eyes, and then Luffy was standing in the middle of the most amazing showcase of dreams, feeling totally empty.

Luffy had no idea how long he'd been frozen in shock before he actually realized that he was frozen in shock, but when he snapped out of it, he threw his arms up in the air and took off, running in a big loop through the street. "I'm having fun! Fun fun fun!"

He ran back out of the carnival street and into the main bustle he'd been escaping minutes ago. As he did so, though, his head dropped and he began to run harder, as if trying to escape the emptiness he'd felt moments before. He bowled a few people out of the way because of this, but he completely didn't notice.

_I'm having a LOT of fun! _He shouted internally to himself as he dashed across the main square he'd come from.

As he turned into a side street, the crowds disappeared. _I am! _He insisted to himself again.

His feet slowed down once it was quiet though, and he finally came to a stop, standing in the middle of the empty street that he'd started in, the dock right nearby.

_I don't need him to have a good time. _He told himself one last time, trying to mean it.

His hands both raised up to touch the rim of his hat reassuringly on either side. Almost for comfort. Not willing to let go, he pulled his boshi down over his head a little more, casting his face into shadow.

…_Zoro, you jerk._

The small tinkle of a bell recalled him to the side-street, and Luffy looked up to see a young woman leaving a little shop that he hadn't noticed before.

He approached it sadly and stooped to look in the window to see if anything could take his mind off of who was already on it.

It was full of figurines and little statues of wizards and… and teacups.

Really nice teacups.

Feeling a little bit of a smile coming back, Luffy stood up again and walked into the store.

* * *

AN: If Luffy seemed unusually snappish in this chapter (and I do realize that he gets annoyed at small things here), it's intentional. He's testy because he misses Zoro and he doesn't want to, and because everyone's mad at him, and because he's mad at Zoro...So it won't take much to break his camel's back at this point. 

But even if anyone was OOC, I don't care a bit.


	3. Chapter 3

Here's the last part. That's all the explanation it gets. Poor last part...

**

* * *

**

**Merry Go Round 'n Round **

Part the Third:

_...…Nobody Knows_

The little bell above the shop door tinkled.

"Welcome," a woman's voice sounded. She was a very tall, slender and attractive young woman. A knock-out, easy. She also seemed to be the only other person in the store.

"You sell teacups?" Luffy got right down to business.

The woman appeared to be surprised by his abrupt question for a moment, but then laughed and walked over to another part of the store. "I do. Are you looking for a gift?"

Luffy nodded. "It's kind of an important one."

The woman smiled knowingly. "I see. For a young woman?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

"I guessed." When Luffy looked at her confused, she added with a smile, "A lot of women like to have a special teacup. It's hard to explain."

She started walking further into the store. "Some of my best work is over h-"

She looked back to see that Luffy was holding a ridiculous looking super-villain mug with stars glowing in his eyes.

The woman was thrown for a moment. "How old did you say this young woman was?"

"I didn't," Luffy set the mug down and followed up with, "She's eighteen. And REALLY smart!"

The woman nodded again. That's what she's first assumed, if his chosen gift for her was a teacup. "In that case, the designs I've created that women of her age are most attracted to are back he-"

Luffy was holding another, even more childish looking mug with that same glittering expression.

"Women don't go for that sort of thing!" The woman called out, rather bemused. There was a reason those things were on the child's clearance table…

Luffy set the mug back down and laughed. "I know, don't worry." And he walked over to where she was.

And beheld several beautiful teacups. "I've made them all myself." the woman said with a hint of pride. "I have more in the back. Is there something special about her that you want this gift to bring out?"

Luffy lifted one orange cup with a bamboo-handle design, and set it back down after a moment. "A feeling of home." he answered softly, distractedly.

The woman looked at him curiously. This was no ordinary boy. She'd wondered about giving him one of her specially-made cups after seeing how he'd marveled over those ugly mugs moments ago. But now… _What an intriguing answer._

Luffy sighed after a moment, folding his arms with a slight frown. They were all gorgeous, to be sure. But they weren't _Nami. _

He looked up toward the ceiling as he tried to think about how much time he had to keep looking through the town (he had easily missed lunch, he realized, and they didn't have a lot of time to stay with Baroque Works hunting them).

Then he saw it. Never taking his eyes from it, he crossed the room toward it. It was being used as a paperweight to help hold up a chain of miniature flags on the highest shelf.

Not wanting to attract attention to himself as he had on the bridge by alerting the shop lady to his rubber body, Luffy towed over a director's chair, kicked off his sandals, and stepped up on top of it so that his eyes were level with their target.

It was amazing. Not amazing like the spotted elephant (although that had been something, too), but amazing like truly awe-inspiring. Luffy had never seen anything like it before.

The woman walked up next to him to see his face. With him on the chair, she was just under eye-level with him.

His expression was precious. He knew he was holding a masterpiece. And it was, too.

The woman was very proud of that teacup in particular. It was a nice shape, with a handle that made it comfortable to hold for hours, if need be. The painted design was of an orchard of trees. Dark trunks reach from the bottom to meet dark leaves half way up. But the whole top of the cup was the star feature. It looked so real, as though it were made of the dark leaves it was painted with. And when you moved it in the light, flecks of yellow, orange, and red would glisten through the leaves, like fruits coming into season.

Luffy couldn't take his eyes off it. It was perfect.

"Do you like that cup?" The woman asked.

Luffy finally took his eyes from it to hop off the chair, still holding it. He smiled at her. "This one. It has to be this one. How much is it?"

The woman laughed a little as his enthusiasm. "How much would you pay for it?"

Luffy looked back at the cup and answered. "A _lot_."

The woman laughed harder. This boy sure knew how to stoke someone's ego. And she could tell that he honestly didn't know he was even doing it.

"In that case, it's free," she continued to smile.

Luffy looked up surprise. "Really?"

The woman nodded, reaching out to put it in a wrapping box. "Make sure she takes care of it."

Luffy couldn't believe his luck! "She will! I promise. She'll love it!"

* * *

After Luffy left, the woman in the shop walked into the back room again. 

"I'm sorry about that. Just the last customer of the day."

The woman that the shopkeeper was speaking to nodded. "Of course. Are you ready to go now, Miss Doublefinger?"

"Yes, just let me lock up the door."

The second woman stepped out into the store and looked out the window where Monkey D. Luffy had just disappeared from view. _What an amazing coincidence, _she thought to herself.

Miss. Doublefinger noticed where the woman was looking. "Do you know that boy, Miss. All Sunday?"

Nico Robin only smiled mysteriously.

* * *

Zoro hammered another nail into the wall of the ship. That section on the side which that freak Wapol had EATEN two weeks ago in Drum had been under constant re-repair by Usopp since that night. Merry's injury was splintering wood again, so Zoro was making Merry ship-shape, which was after all the shape a ship should be. 

_It's just a never-ending cycle for you, isn't it Merry? As soon as things are looking up, they come crashing back down… Just like Luffy. Honestly, he can be fine for weeks, and suddenly one day he's a thumb-sucking brat._

Zoro threw the hammer on the deck in frustration. Why did his captain have to be such a damn child? It was really frustrating, because when he thought about a handful of other times that stuck with Zoro hard, like that other night when he came to cuddle together in the Crow's Nest, he sorta missed Luffy…

But he couldn't just give in! That would teach Luffy that it was okay to act like this and get away with it.

Running one hand through is hair exhaustedly, Zoro reached down to pick up the hammer again so he could get back to work.

* * *

Luffy walked down the dock toward the Merry. He could hear hammering from the Warf a minute ago, but it had stopped. 

Ship in reach, Luffy stretched his arm up and shot all the way up from the dock to leapfrog himself over the rail… Where he was greeted with a rather handsome view of Zoro's ass. His shirt was clinging to him more tightly than normal for some reason, and his abs and shoulder were flexing impressively as he bent over.

This enraged Luffy. What the hell was Zoro thinking? He really would stoop to any low, wouldn't he?

_First the dirty starvation tactics at breakfast, and now he's trying to turn me on? That son-of-a-bitch!_

Luffy wouldn't have jumped to such a conclusion if it hadn't been working, but now the prick was officially teasing him and adding a whole new level of cruelty to their fight.

_I can do that too! _He thought, but he actually didn't have an idea how to tease somebody, being a forward boy, (and having no clue that he could tease _Zoro_ merely by smiling in a certain way).

Before he could think of a way to return Zoro's 'favor', the older pirate straightened slowly, popped his back, and turn back around… Where he was met by a rather aggravating view of Luffy's most hurt pout.

The pout changed to a very sour and disgusted expression when he met Zoro's eyes, and Zoro threw the look right back.

Where the hell was all the stuff Luffy was supposed to get? All Zoro saw was one tiny pink gift bag tied around his forearm. Zoro remembered the little boy in the canal, and for some reason he couldn't denounce, he had to make sure that his immature child of a captain hadn't gotten into some sort of stupid mishap in the market that may have induced the former pout he'd worn.

Luffy began to march purposefully past him, Zoro reached out to take his wrist, "Oi-"

"I Refuse!" Luffy kept walking, ignoring that Zoro was holding his wrist.

_What the…?_ "I haven't said anything yet!"

"Then say something." Luffy ordered without slowing down.

Zoro was getting pissed again. "Will you just hold on a-"  
"I Refuse!" Luffy interrupted again, making his point clear that he wasn't about to give a damn about ANYTHING that Zoro had to say. He hadn't turned around once.

Infuried by his captain's idiotic, stubborn, _childish_ behavior, Zoro yanked back on Luffy's wrist, refusing to let him go any further.

As he'd predicted, Luffy reflexively locked his muscles when Zoro pulled, refusing to give ground.

"Wait… a… second!" Zoro growled out through gritted teeth.

"I REEEFUUUUUSE!" Luffy snarled back in the same, strained fashion.

The two stood on opposite sides of the deck, pulling on Luffy's arm with all their might (much as they had a certain broken teacup), neither refusing to give anything up to the other. …Until Luffy tried to take another step away from Zoro.

The change of balance caused his foot to go from standing on the sole to the side, and a shock of pain caused Luffy to lose concentration and suddenly go rocketing back toward Zoro like a rubber band, smashing them both hard into (and partially through) the injured wall of the Going Merry Go.

For a few seconds afterward, neither moved.

"Aunnnn," Luffy finally groaned as his vision spun around. His mind cleared considerably when his hand dropped down into his lap to feel that Zoro's arm was around his waist.

…Well, if that was Zoro's arm, where was the rest of-?

Luffy began to twist in Zoro's lap and became aware of a weight... Turning his own head, he raised one hand to help support Zoro's head, which was lying on his shoulder. "Zoro? Are you okay?"

Zoro didn't answer.

Luffy shifted a little, moving his hand to keep his support… and noticed that something red was now running down his palm.

_eh? Eh? **BLOOD!**_

For the first time, Luffy looked behind him and saw that the wall they had smashed into was splintering hazardously, and while Luffy was fine, Zoro had been his reluctant buffer!

Quick as a flash Luffy spun around, Zoro's legs still spread on either side of him, and holding both of the older man's shoulders. "Zoro! Are you alive? _Zoro? ZOROZOROZOROZOROZOROZORO!" _Luffy cried frantically as he violently shook his first mate back and forth in an attempt to restore life!

**WhamWhamWhamWhamWham** went Zoro's head against the wall of the Merry as his whole torso was thrown at it repeatedly.

Zoro, who would have been much more lively had Luffy not been trying to 'save' him, tried to be heard over the insanity of screaming and banging. "luff- stop lu- wai-"

"_ZORO!" _WHAM!

"KNOCK IT OFF!" Zoro lunged forward with a shout, suddenly resembling a one-headed sea dragon with huge fangs and red eyes.

Luffy promptly let go in relieved surprise. "Oh, you're alive."

Then he was taken by emotional distress. "Don't do that to me! If you're alive, say something SOONER!"

"Why would I be dead?" Zoro grumbled rhetorically. "Not that you were helping any…" His anger had gone from murderous to mildly annoyed almost instantly once the banging had stopped.

He pointed at the bag that was still hanging on Luffy's forearm curiously. "Is your thing okay?"

Luffy's gaze followed Zoro's finger… "AAAHHHHH! NAMI'S TEACUP!"

He pulled the bag off his arm and quickly unwrapped the ensemble of a box inside. Upon seeing his gift intact, he sighed and smiled in obvious relief. "Yokatta… It's not broken."

Zoro leaned forward a little to see. "Nami's…?"

Hearing the whispered voice, Luffy's attention snapped back to Zoro. "Zoro! You're bleeding!" He crawled up to Zoro, faces almost touching as he inspected the little cut on the back of his swordsman's neck.

Zoro's heart rate increased. He wrapped his hands around Luffy's ribs under the arms and lifted him gently away from the wound. "It's just a little thing. I don't even feel it."

That expression of relief returned to Luffy's face yet again, and with a happy sigh, the smaller pirate put his hand over Zoro's heart and leaned forward to lay his head against Zoro's abs. "Oh good…"

Zoro smiled at his captain softly. So innocent and sweet. He raised one hand and ran his fingers through the dark, soft hair. His Luffy.

"Zoro?" Luffy looked up with big, bright eyes.

"Hm?" Luffy could be so cute sometimes.

Luffy moved his hand down along Zoro's chest and abs. "You're shirt's all wet. What happened?"

Zoro started and blushed a little, turning his face away. "It's nothing. Ignore it."

"…But I can't ignore _youuu!_ Did you make one of those flamingoes in the pond mad at you?"

Now Zoro had to look back at him. "Flamin--? No." Of course now that he'd said something, he had to answer. He sighed, and resigned himself to it.

His explanation was very jerky. He hesitated a lot and the some of the more embarrassing parts were spoken much quieter than the rest of them. "Some people were crowded around this bridge. Aaaand they were talking about this kid who fell in. …so I got worri- CURIOUS" he quickly corrected, "so I looked and it… he looked like… and I thought… Anyway, he was drowning so I jumped in to help."

Luffy frowned at him, "So _you're_ who everyone was talking about! Geez, are you _trying_ to blow Vivi's cover?"

_Oh he did NOT…! _Zoro could not be_lieve_ that Luffy of all people had the nerve to tell him that he wasn't being _covert_ enough. "Ex_cuuuse me_? You little bas-"

He was cut off when Luffy threw his arms around his shoulders in a big hug. …A needy hug.

The smaller one smiled softly, "You were trying to save me, right? Even though you were mad, you were trying to help _me_… Thank you!"

Luffy felt strong arms glide up to wrap around him, holding him close. One around his upper back, the other below his waist. The thighs on either side of him came together a little more to encase him somewhat. With his head on Zoro's shoulder, he couldn't see the blush his swordsman wore, but he could hear it. "…you're welcome."

Luffy relaxed in the embrace. He'd missed this so much… He couldn't _believe_ how much he'd missed this. It felt so good. For the first time in two days, the world was so right.

He felt Zoro's arms slide apart a little more, and suddenly there was hand behind his neck and another around his thighs, lifting sideways off the deck. Zoro crossed his legs and relaxed Luffy into them, cradling him like a child.

Luffy moved to grab Zoro's shirt with the hand that wasn't now pinned between them.

Zoro spoke quietly, honestly. "Luffy, y-you know… when I can't hold you…" Luffy's eyes met his. "…It hurts."

The swordsman knew his voice had a little longing in it, but he didn't want to fake his feelings anymore. Now that they could see each other's faces clearly, neither could hide.

Luffy gave him a bright smile, "I know. It hurts me, too."

Zoro felt a rush of happiness and relief. Not only did Luffy understand, he returned the feelings!

Then Luffy continued, "It's all painful, like not being able to eat meat!"

Happiness smoldering, Zoro's relief turned black. He dipped Luffy backwards a little more and leaned over him with an angry hydra glare. "I'm grouped with EATING MEAT?"

"HAHAHAHAHAAA!" The glare didn't seem to be threatening to Luffy… "Joking, Zoro, joking! You're way better than eating meat!"

Quelling his laughter, Luffy tugged Zoro's shirt and the two were brought nose-to-nose as Luffy said honestly with a little smile, that teasing smile, "Nothing in the world is better than when we're together.

He kissed Zoro's nose.

Zoro smiled at his captain for a moment, glancing from Luffy's eye to his lips. "Right," he whispered, and captured those lips with this own.

Luffy made a happy sound and kicked one leg into the air, toes curling, as Zoro cradled him closer.

* * *

"Hey, Zoro? Are you sure it's okay?" 

A few minutes later, Zoro was wrapping his hand around Luffy's wrists to move the rubber hands away from the cut on the back of his neck. "Yeah. This little scrape is nothing to me."

Luffy laughed and picked up Nami's gift again, "That's true, isn't it?"

Zoro pulled the boy down to sit between his legs, back against his chest. "…So where's the stuff you insisted on buying all by yourself?"

Suddenly remembering that he'd come home almost empty-handed, Luffy immediately started making excuses filled with holes at about a kilometer a second: "I tried to get the stuff, I did! But all the sales guys wanted me to buy from them at once and it was confusing and then this lady said that I had to try 'dickering' with them and then the lobster man was red like Sanji and then someone pushed me off a bridge and I saw a spotty elephant and ran!"

…_Huh? _Zoro just… stared at he and Luffy's hands in confusion where they sat in Luffy's lap. Luffy'd been talking so fast that Zoro'd missed a few words, but the ones he picked up didn't really sense anyway. Like some guy that was half lobster and looked like Sanji? Funny visual, but he had a feeling he was seeing it wrong. …At least he understood the _spotted elephant_.

The shopping was what caught his attention though. He'd been worried about that…

It hadn't taken him long to figure out that he would be the only one bringing bags home that day, because his captain really couldn't shop… Literally he was incapable of it. Luffy, dickering and bargaining in a market square? Wasn't gonna happen. Ever.

"I wouldn't worry too much about it. After I helped that kid on the bridge, all these vendors started giving me free stuff. I even got a crate of lobsters. Sanji'll never know the difference."

Luffy sighed. "Oh good. I was afraid he'd be mad at me again."

Zoro smiled. _Just like that little boy…_ "Sanji won't get mad at you. I won't let him."

Luffy smiled and leaned fully against Zoro's chest.

Zoro looked at the bag that was back on Luffy's arm. "So what made you do this?" He touched the bag with one finger.

Luffy noticed and shrugged a little. "I know it's not the same thing. It's not her home cup, but I thought maybe…"

Zoro nodded, "So did I." He put his arms around Luffy's sides and raised him up a little to indicate he should get up.

"What? What do you mean?" Luffy asked as he finished standing.

Zoro stood, himself, and brushed his pants off before walking over to the steps and taking up a brown paper bag. "I had the same idea as you. I got a teacup for her in town."

Luffy took Zoro's bag and peaked inside. "Yours is from a different place than mine. Do you think she'll like them?"

Zoro shrugged. "Hope so."

Luffy smiled broadly and handed the brown bag back to Zoro. "All right then." He bent down to pluck up his hat and then clapped it onto his head. "Let's go see Nami!"

"Right."

The two walked through the storage room to the hatch to the girls' bedroom, and knocked on the floor together.

"Come in." Nami called from down below.

Luffy walked in first, Zoro at his heels. They approached the table that Nami was writing in the log at and set down their packages next to each other.

The two didn't explain themselves, and Nami didn't ask for them to as she simply began to wordlessly unwrap them both.

Soon there were two teacups in front of her. One was dazzlingly beautiful with an orchard painted on it that sparkled in the sun. Nami had to confess was amazing. The other was a pearlescent burgundy with swirls of red and purple mixed into the paint here and there. It had a black handle with a very boxy shape.

The cups themselves spoke about the people whom had chosen them. If they had traded cups, Nami still would have known which had been picked by who. She just couldn't see Luffy ever picking something dark and plain, or Zoro picking something so detailed and sparkly.

They were gifts from two different hearts, and that made them just as special to Nami as anything from home.

The pair in front of her bowed deeply. "I'm sorry," they said together.

Still without speaking, Nami reached behind her and took a pad of paper from the arm of the chair. She folded the first page back and showed them the message she had written down on it the night before: 'You're Both Forgiven'.

The boys started upon reading it. When had she…?

Nami stood up and smiled at them. "I know it was an accident. I saw it happen. I was just mad at you because you started blaming with each other instead of acting like you cared, and apologizing to me."

"YAHOOOO!" Luffy threw his arms up and started dancing. Nami wasn't mad at him anymore!

Steam puffed out of Zoro's nose. This whole stupid thing could have been avoided? Then why hadn't she just said that?

His looked away with a frown… and something caught his eye.

"Nami, isn't that…?"

Nami looked to where Zoro was pointing at her bedside table. A glued teacup was sitting beside the picture of her family and a ripe tangerine. "Oh! Yes, it's the same one you broke. It belonged to Bellemere-san, so I couldn't throw it out. Luckily it was only in five pieces, so I was able to put it back together pretty easily. I can't drink out of it anymore, but that's okay."

She sat back down and smiled. "That one will be fine there. I have two new cups to drink out of now."

Picking up her two cups, she looked at each one carefully. "These are really nice, you guys. Thank you." She set Zoro's down to look more closely at Luffy's. "This one's REALLY pretty. I wonder how she made it shine like this…"

Luffy scrambled to sit beside her on the arm of her chair. "Zoro's is really cool, too." He picked it up and moved it around. "Haha! It changes colors when you move it!"

Nami looked at him smiled. "Best of all, it seems that you two are getting along better now."

Luffy got up and ran over to Zoro, "Yep!"

Zoro nodded with a smiled at Luffy.

Nami nodded herself, in approval. Soon she would find out who had made the first move. "Good. So do you two understand now, why this happened?"

"Yeah," Zoro answered.

"We figured it out," Luffy smiled.

They both pointed a finger at each other and said together: "It was HIS fault."

Nami held a hand to her head as Zoro and Luffy spun on each other with a glare of seething hatred.

_This bet could go on forever…_

_End._

* * *

AN: I hope you all enjoyed it. And don't be mad about the ending. I named this fic AND it's chapters whatI named them for a reason. That should have been warning enough. 

Did the make-up scene go okay? I think it did. I'm pretty happy with it anyway, but if you all didn't then sorry... :) I like it. If you like this style of ZoLu (the romantic part, i mean) better than the Coral Reef style that gets more... heavy? Then let me know. I can write more of this stuff too. It's fun to write, and it's better for a more broad audience...


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